The 'Jolly Boys Outing' aptly named from an episode of BBC TV Comedy 'Only Fools & Horses'. This is an annual migration of members of POHAS who for many years have been going on a five day trip to Worcestershire an area of the UK famous for excellent fishing both on River and commercial fisheries. See below this year's story (well, what can be published anyway Ha Ha ) |
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| Monday 11th August 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The first day of this years trip and as usual I picked up our Chairman Frank Davies at 8.30am and headed South on the M6 stopping first at our favourite truck stop just off junction 12 on the A5 the 'Truckers Rest', excellent breakfast, good price! Whilst we were there filling our faces Neil Davies and Phil Clare turned up, so we all chatted on, looking forward to the week ahead. Now if you knew Ken, this was one of his 'Whibley-isms', he wasn't on the A12 otherwise he would be in Essex, what he actually meant was he was on Junction 12 slip road! Both Frank and I chuckled at yet another Ken gaffe, but he is a great sport and we eventually saw him at our first destination. Onwards we went, arriving at the pre arranged fishery Solhampton, where we were duly met by the owner Burgess Homer, who relieved us of money for peg fees and bait and advised that we would be on Buzzard Pool. We had previously agreed that we could have a match between members once everyone arrived, and that we would fish 1pm - 5pm. |
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For the most part it was sunny although we had a couple of heavy showers and a spell of thunder and lightning just to add a little interest.The last downpour came as we were weighing in, which really cheered us up (not). |
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| After the match we all drove in convoy off to our digs which for several years now has been the Horn & Trumpet in Bewdley, great place for anglers, decent ale, good breakfast and even somewhere to securely store your tackle should you not wish to leave it in your car overnight. We arrived to find our landlord had changed, which was a complete suprise as a couple of us had only called in two weeks previously to confirm everything. To cap it all the Pool Table had also been removed as 'big boss' thinks he can turn this place into an eatery. Time will tell, but we think not. Our resident landlord now being Dave and his partner Charlotte, both from Dudley, twas great to hear a Black Country accent. Introductions complete we dived into the ale, and what a nice pint that Enville Ale is! |
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| During our quaffing session our absent member Roly rang up from his sick bed, so we had a 'conference call' to discuss his ailment and to generally extract the Michael from him! Following that we all strolled into town, first stop being food, so it was into the George Hotel aka Wetherspoons. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spoons was rammed so there was a wait on food, so to pass the time we carried on drinking, discussed the days events, where we were going tomorrow and generally acted the goat amongst ourselves. Following tea we sidled into the lounge area and took over the sofas with several locals quickly disappearing . . . Perhaps our loud voices and general demeanour may have led them to move on, anyway, we sat on the sofa's and devoured a few more pints. It was like an episode of Men Behaving Badly, all good fun though, nobody came to any harm. |  |
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| Frank soon got bored, so while the rest of us stayed and chatted he went off to one of our other haunts of previous years the Cock & Magpie pub, which is situated at the bottom of the hill on the river front. Within the space of twenty minutes he was back red in the face and a tad irate. The layout of the pub inside had been changed and more importantly the prices had gone up with a Peroni now costing £5, so he made a rapid exit and came back! It had been a long day so we decided to go back to our digs and have a night cap there. We arrived to find that the place was in darkness and the bar area was all locked up, so there goes our honesty bar and a drink for this evening. A subject to be discussed with landlord in the morning! |
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| Tuesday 12th August 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The day got off to a bad start, no cereal, no teaspoons, no bowls and everyone had to have a full english breakfast or nothing. To say we were displeased was an understatement, added to the fact we had no honesty bar the previous night. Can't blame this landlord though as he and his partner only started yesterday. We decided we would discuss with the landlord later, for now it was off to our next venue which was Cob House Fishery, following the hoo ha at the pub we all arrived by 9.15am Phil being last as he got lost finding the fishery! We were soon to be faced with another crisis. Due to an oversight by the fishery some other club was also due to be on our pool (Oak Pool). After a few conversations the other club went on to another available pool (Laugherne) on the complex, while we had seven pegs side by side, just in case other anglers wished to pleasure fish our pool(which they didn't in the end). So we set off for our Oak pool only to find the landing nets locked up (you have to use their keep nets and landing nets). Our Chairman eventually came to the rescue and got said nets unlocked. Eventually we were all sorted and agreed to fish this match from 10.30am until 3.30pm. |
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| We had a match on Cob House on our last Jolly Boy's outing in 2013 and the fishing was phenomenal with everyone getting their best weights and expectation was high that we would see the same today, but would we? You couldn't see any fish topping, the pool was devoid of features, it didn't look the best, were we going to be let down? The weather was OK although we still had a stiff breeze which was coming over our left shoulder and in the afternoon we saw a few rain showers which quickly passed. |
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| No sooner had the match started the fishing erupted, everyone was hooking fish left, right and centre, this continued for most anglers throughout the match. Frank struggled in what he called the nursery peg, due in the main to him catching fish but they were baby Carp, which he put back and not in his keepnet. In the end it was a record day, our seven anglers had to use twenty five nets to store 1,095lb of fish (almost half a ton!). See below the weights, which are extraordinary and every member equalled or bettered their own personal bests, so well done all! |
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Just for the record Alan used six keepnets, Adam and James used four keepnets, Phil, Ken and Neil used three and Frank used two | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| After the excitement of the day it was all back to the pub. First thing on mine and Frank's agenda was to sort pub out, so we explained the honesty bar we have had in the past, which landlord hadn't been made aware of by his boss, we then tackled the breakfast and we agreed to do a list of requirements for each member. It was then wait and see until morning. Landlord sorted, it was back to the beer, quick shower, get changed and off to Wetherspoons as it was Steak night tonight. |
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| Following a nice tasty steak and a pint or two of amber nectar we decided to go to the sports bar for a couple of reasons, (a) they have a pool table (our pub doesn't), so we could play killer pool and (b) the drinks were pretty cheap, oh and (c) there was some sport on the TV's. By midnight it was time for us to depart back to the pub. The $64,000 question, will we have an honesty bar, will Dave our landlord remember to leave the pumps on? |
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| RESULT! Walked in and the bar was unlocked and the beer pumps were on. Shame we hadn't got a feckin' pool table! Anyway, some members took themselves to bed but Frank, Neil and myself had a pint and then departed ourselves to the land of nod. |
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| Wednesday 13th August | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Our little chat with the landlord worked wonders, this morning we came down to cereal, bowls, sugar, teaspoons and we even got exactly what each of us asked for breakfast, could not have been better. Other than Ken didn't get the Wholemeal bread he wanted for toast. I and others were woken early by the drayman and also the local council deciding to do some roadworks outside. To be fair our landlord started in the pub the same day as we arrived, so it was in at the deep end for him and his partner, but today and the honesty bar last night, it was back to normal, well done Dave and Charlotte! Dave and Charlotte also had the pleasure of 'our Ken' as being a retired chef himself, he decided to inspect their kitchen, why, we don't know but which we all found quite amusing whilst Dave looked slightly bemused. However it all went well. |
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| Today we returned to a fishery we had been to in the past, and with it only being five minutes away from pub, quite convenient. The venue being Wharton Farm Fishery which is located next to Wharton Park Golf Club, and which you use the same entrance. Upon arrival Ken got lost as he continued to drive around the golf club, instead of turning into the fishery, but hey, we had all the time in the world, and it was Ken so not much suprise on the faces of the waiting anglers. |
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This being our third day of our visit we decided again to have a match, however we made it slightly different in that we would split the match into two halves, have two winners and have a thirty minute lunch break in the middle (how very English we hear you say). So it was agreed we would fish 10.30 - 1.00 do first weigh-in, have 30 minutes lunch, then fish 1.30 - 4.00 and then our second and final weigh-in. |
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Session 1 Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Session 2 Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Overall Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Another match done and it was back to our digs. To be fair we have missed our mate Roley aka Paul Rowlands, who has not been well, but glad to say he is on the road to recovery and returning to his whinging ways! As a mark of respect, several of our members donned wigs to be Roley lookalikes, as anyone who knows him will know that his feminine mane is his pride and joy and quite often topped off with a headband in windy conditions. We didn't stretch to a headband, but we did get the mullet, see below. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
left to right - Frank, James, Neil, Alan, Phil & Adam |
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| Following the photo session we all decided to head off for a Chinese as we'd been Wetherspoons for two days, so a change is as good as a rest so they say. We headed down the hill to the Sai Pan restaurant. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We were welcomed by the staff and shown to our tables where the offer of beer was soon accepted. Suddenly a voice from the bar in a local brummy dialect shouted, "Have you seen the White Egret?" To which we said, why, should we have? Apparently for you twitchers out there it is quite an uncommon sight to see this bird this far in land. This nutter then went on for about five minutes explaining the life and times of said bird. Fortunately our hosts came over taking our order so we were rescued. Shortly after that the geezer departed. We must attract headcases. |
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| After a very nice meal and much against Frank's will, we decided to go in the Cock & Magpie to see for ourselves what happened to the place. It had been changed and not for the better, hardly a soul in, and after I paid £4.05 for a single vodka and coke, we all soon left the place, headed back to the sports bar and played killer pool until it was time for a kip. |
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| Thursday 14th August | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Everyone feeling a little jaded this morning, after a good breakfast, a read of the paper and other morning duties. Neil decided to have a dabble on the river, the rest of us decided we would just pleasure fish today and we had been recommended another fishery by the bloke in the tackle shop, so we headed off at 9am to Top Barn Farm which is on the way to Worcester and is about fourteen miles away from our base in Bewdley. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| After finding our way around quite a large complex we ended up at Grebe Pool, which is a really pleasant and picturesque 58 peg lake. An entertaining start was had at the expense of Ken (again). Ken went to pick his peg and left his brolly on it as a marker while he went back for his tackle. Unbeknown to Ken, Alan moved his brolly down a peg. Upon his return Ken looked quizzically at where his brolly was and it took a minute or two, plus some nearby sniggering to realise he had been had. My how we laugh, childish, yes, funny, hysterical. |
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| The rain started while we were on our way to the venue, but it knocked off by 11am and stayed bright and warm until 3pm when thunder was heard in the distance and the rain briefly started again. Another highlight of the day was Alan having a snake in his swim, not sure what species it was, but it only made one appearance, fortunately it remained in the water and didn't pop out to say hello. Later in the day Phil decided to swap pools as he was being pestered with flies. Frank had a landing net crisis when landing a fish and his landing net dropped off with him just holding the handle. Fortunately a kind gentleman on the next peg came to his rescue and crisis was averted. That was our last day of fishing, back at the pub we bumped into Neil who had a good day on the River Severn catching a few nice Barbel and some Roach, so everyone had yet another good day, now time for beer and food. |
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| Tonight the majority of our party went for an Indian at Vujon Restaurant, whilst Frank & Phil decided on the more traditional chippy which they took back to the pub and sat and ate them. The Indian has been something of a tradition for our last night in Bewdley each year for the last few years. It is a fine eatery, and tonight it was packed, perhaps with those celebrating their 'A Level' results which were released today. After stuffing our faces, we met up again with |
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| Frank and Phil in the sports bar for few more beers, before Frank and Phil disappeared back to our pub to watch a live band. We followed suit a little later to see this live band who were three old blokes that made Ken look like a teenager. They were sat playing a steel guitar and a banjo, christ only knows what they were playing, don't think they knew what they were playing, so yours truly went to bed at 11.30, and I believe the others followed soon after. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday 15th August | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Not much more to say, our trip this year is virtually over. No fishing today as everone wants to get back home to sort stuff out in readiness for club match tomorrow at Baden Hall. Neil did stay behind today and fished the river again as he wasn't fishing match tomorrow, he was in no rush to get back. Everyone else sorted all their stuff out, said thanks and goodbye to Dave and Charlotte our hosts at the Horn & Trumpet and off home we went. Thanks to everyone along the way who made |
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our visit to Bewdley momorable, especially the girls in Ashley's Bakery, Bewdley. If you haven't had a butty from there, you haven't lived. Lunchtimes are always a pleasure with their butties. To Dave and Charlotte in the 'Horny Trumpet' who could not have done more for us. To the fisheries who accomodated us, the pubs that tolerated us, and of course to all those in our group, each one a unique individual a pleasure to be with and we will do it all again in 2015. |
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| Oh, and before we go see below final league based on matches held which were Solhampton, Cob House, Wharton Farm which was split into three, part one, part two and overall. Points awarded, one point for first, two for second and so on down to seven for seventh place. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Well done, it was all just for fun anyway but across all matches total weight caught was 1,824lb 8oz, not bad for three days fishing ( day 4 was only pleasure fishing). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tightlines everyone! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
